A potluck is a gathering of people where each participant is expected to bring a dish of food to be shared among the group. Baptist Potluck is where we will be gathering for "food for thought" from Baptists and "food for the soul" from the Word of God.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

“Cottage Prayer Meetings”

I have been in the ministry over 40 years, and the thing that’s driven my life is getting RESULTS.

Seeing souls saved and lives changed for the Master has been my driving force. I say that for one reason and that is this:

Preaching without power is a waste of time. Not just mine but those poor souls that listen to me-

A soul cannot be saved that is not prayed for– One said: ”Sharing the gospel with a person no one

has prayed for is like asking a blind man to share a beautiful sunset with you, He is blind and can

not see”.

A read Bible that is not prayed over will not be as effective, or not effective at all. Why? I must

talk to God if I expect Him to speak to me-

Faith moves the hand of God.Note the following:

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth

George Muller gave this startling testimony:“If I say that during the fifty-four years and nine months that I have been a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I have had thirty thousand answers to prayer, either in the same hour or the same day that the requests were made,…”

Look on with me for a moment:

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

I did not have to read this verse many times to realize that God answered the prayers of obedientChristians.

A bit of testimony:

I was saved just weeks when my pastor Jim Phillips mentioned having cottage prayer meetings. I wanted to have one. What ever it was. I had a large den in my house so he told me to invite some folks to come to my house on Friday night and he would come to my house and lead the meeting. I will tell you about the events of that meeting in a moment, but first let me say that little effected my life like that night. Many there beside me were moved so powerfully that we met almost every Friday night for over three years. Oh if I only had space to tell you of the hundreds of answers to prayers. The growth In the Lord of those that attended.

One thing I do want to tell you concerns my pastor, Jim Phillips. (The author of this book) One Friday night after several months of meetings, Pastor Phillips called after the meeting ended and asked if anyone was broken hearted over some person they wanted to be saved. There were many that night, but one lady as I remember was totally broken over a person. The host told Bro Phillips the name of the person. No one thought about the call and went about having a time of snacks and fellowship. About forty five minutes later the phone rang and Bro Phillips said that the person had just received Christ as Savior. Bro Phillips later said that when he walked in the door the persons heart was broken. The reality of faith was overcoming.

Well that’s only a drop of Gods blessings that came on that group of people that got in one accordand saw many, many wonders of God as the Holy Spirit dealt withhearts and souls.

Let me now point out how those “Friday Night Cottage Prayer Meetings” worked:

First you need and appropriate host and location:

How many will be there and will the space be appropriate. Out of about 15 families that were involvedin those meetings, about 5 had homes that were appropriate.

The people understoodthat. Let me now point out the procedures of the “Friday Night Cottage Prayer Meetings”.

First you need and appropriate host and location:

How many will be there and will the space be appropriate. Out of about 15 families that were

involvedin those meetings, about 5 had homes that were appropriate. The people understoodthat.

It was up to the host to do two things.

One, ask a qualified person to lead the meeting.

Two ask someone to give the devotion. The devotion should be about 15 minute or less.

It is better if the host does neither of these. Why? It will insure more people at the meeting. It is

Particularly important when you first get started.

The Leader.

1– Opens the meetingby asking someone to pray.

2– Calls for testimonies. Note: After several meetings the people will start seeing people saved and

lives changed, The group will start getting in one accord. The power of God will work in the

meeting . Then the tone of the meeting will be set.

3– Then you can do one or more (or none) of several things:

One: Go around the room and ask eachperson to give oneperson they are praying for.

Two.Go around the room andhaveeach person pray a sentence prayer for someone on their

heart.

(I think these are the most important to work with. just don't over do anything.)

The leader then calls on the person to give his devotion.

After the devotion is over then the leader takes prayer requests.

The host should make sure everyone has pen and paper.

Each week the personleading the meeting should try as much as possible to get only very serious requests. Make lost souls # one. Try to keep away from much of praying for the sick. Only very personal requests.Much more can be said. Just be Spirit led.Now it is time to pray

Here are three things you can do.

One– Separate the men and woman into separate rooms. Ask a lady to start the ladies off.

Two– If the group is small you can keep the group together.

Three– As time goes on and the group becomes sensitive to doing the right thing you can leave the group together up to as many as twenty people, but only if they will follow the leader when he says

To keep prayers short as possible. Pray mostly for that which the group is broken hearted over.

They have church and 7 days a week to pray over their personal lists.

The person giving the Devotion

Make sure that your message is on subject. Don't get away from prayer and the Holy Spirit.

If you have the ”gift of gab”, and love “much speaking”, don't quench the Spirit. The success of the meetingmay depend on you. Keep it under 15 minutes and ask God to break your heart.

When the prayer time is over, then have a time of fellowship and food. Keep the food to snacks, and don't emphasis the food and fellowship. That will destroy the Cottage Prayer Meeting. Keep talking about the prayers during this time.

Something that is good to do when you have the group together to ask the blessing on the food is to

thank the Lord for the time of prayer with friends, and protect when they go to their homes, and ask God to bless the food and fellowship.